Finishing up Chinese chat in grade 11 has really left some impactful experiences on me. Being able to watch my mentees progress throughout the year in the Chinese abilities with the aid of my teaching and their school learnings has made me feel a sense of accomplishment. It was gratifying to know that my planning towards each lesson was effective yet enjoyable for the students, this ability has also translated into other areas of my life where it was important for me to have a good plan for self-management. This shows learning outcome 3 where I had created a plan for my CAS experience, being Chinese chat, each lesson, I had to carefully plan how I was going to approach the lesson and what subjects and areas I had to cover in order to ensure the learning of the students. Moreover, with each subsequent lesson, I was able to show growth as I had become more accustomed to the teaching role as compared to being a student. Throughout the duration of the activity, I became more aware of what attitude I should be approaching the students with and how I could have the most enjoyable lesson without it getting too boring for the student, seeing as they are kids in middle school, planning out break times or rest times for the to just relax was something important that I found since they couldn’t concentrate for very long. Only after a few sessions of doing this was I able to get the right balance between rest and study which kept the student engaged during our study time but also relaxed enough so that he wasn’t stressed during this lesson. This shows growth because, in the beginning, I was very unsure about how to approach and teach the students, but as time went on and more sessions passed, I become more aware and learned more about the intricacies of teaching and was able to grow into a better mentor for the students.
